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Posted: Feb 08, 2011

Notre Dame to host contest in undergraduate nanotechnology research

(Nanowerk News) For the first time, the University of Notre Dame is holding a competition to recognize outstanding undergraduates from any university or college who are engaged in research in nanoscience and engineering. This spring and summer, Notre Dame will provide research initiation awards of $500 for students who submit the most promising research proposals. Prizes for the best projects and presentations will be awarded at a conference held at Notre Dame this fall.

"We want to meet the best and brightest undergraduates interested in nanoscale science and engineering," says Alan Seabaugh, professor of electrical engineering at Notre Dame and director of the Midwest Institute for Nanoelectronics Discovery. "Our aim is to give these future leaders an opportunity to share their discoveries, to reflect on opportunities for graduate research, and to see how careers in science and engineering can be a service to others."

The highlight of the competition will be the fall conference at Notre Dame, for which contest finalists will be provided travel support to the campus, where they will compete for first, second and third place prizes of $5,000, $3,000 and $1,000.

The deadline for spring research proposals is Feb. 15 (Tuesday). Summer proposals need to be submitted by May 1. Additional details and guidelines can be found at the NDConnect website.

The contest builds on the recent success of Notre Dame's NDnano Undergraduate Research Fellowships (NURF), a summer program in which students spend 10 weeks working on cutting-edge projects with faculty mentors, postdoctoral researchers and graduate students.

It also complements the Nanotechnology New Ventures Competition, a collaborative effort between Notre Dame, Purdue University, and the State of Indiana to award a total of $57,000 to top researchers or entrepreneurs developing novel technologies or services based on nanotechnology. The winners of this contest, Indiana's first business plan competition targeting startup ventures and emerging companies in the field, will be announced at Purdue on March 25.